Unions, D21 reach tentative agreement in fifth session

Columbia Gorge News met with Union representatives on June 4 prior to the bargaining session, where they shared that this year’s bargaining proceedings — an annual process — have been an unprecedented experience for them.

According to District 21 Education Association (D21 EA) President Jodi Ketchum, when they reached out to the school district for a “cleaned up” budget, they did not receive a response.

On May 6 and 14, the NWCSD budget committee met to discuss and ultimately approve the district’s presented budget for fiscal year 2024-25. It was acknowledged by District Chief Financial Officer Randy Anderson that there were noted errors in the presented budget that would be fixed prior to board approval (set to take place at the June 20 regular school board meeting).

“These coding, or individual line item, errors do not affect that total aggregate amount that is approved,” District Communications Director Stephanie Bowen told Columbia Gorge News. “Again, these corrections occur prior to the formal adoption by the school board, which is one reason that the finalized budget is not published prior.”

When asked why the budget contained these errors — more than 200, according to Ketchum — Bowen noted constraints due the timing of Anderson’s taking over the district CFO position, which took place in March following the departure of former District CFO Kara Flath.

“This created a very short runway to prepare the budget, which is about a four-month process for the May budget committee,” Bowen said. “The important part in preparing for the budget committee is to ensure that the aggregate amounts are correct and that the budget is balanced, which it was … Bargaining, or contract agreements, cover a wide variety of categories with 20-plus covered articles ranging from grievance and employment procedures to salary and benefits; so while finances can be discussed, it is not the sole purpose … As we are talking about bargaining, we do know the total amounts of salaries, health insurance, benefits, etc., that are being discussed, regardless of what individual line item they may fall on.”

Union representatives feel not seeing a corrected budget prior to bargaining sessions lacks transparency and does not allow them a clear idea of what they are negotiating.

“It doesn’t give us a clear picture of … where the money is being allocated. So, in order for us to help solve the problem of this budget crisis, we would need that information,” Ketchum said. “We’ve never been in a situation where we do not have a clear picture.”

A part of the process the unions have felt has been of unusual practice has been the proposals themselves. As previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, approved district contracts are valid for three years, with current contracts valid until 2025, but articles such as salaries and insurance benefits are reopened every year to account for things such as Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs). Typical practice for negotiations, according to Ketchum, has been when both parties present proposals and then counter-proposals until an agreement is reached.

As of June 4, the district had not changed its contract proposal. “That makes it hard to bargain,” North Wasco Educational Support Professionals (NW ESP) Co-President Syliva Brock said. “So we feel like they kind of put our backs against the wall.”

During bargaining session four, union representatives presented counter proposals for both licensed and classified unions addressing current budget shortfalls. While not reaching consensus in that session, union representatives urged the district to return with a different proposal, as they were “categorically rejecting” their offer if it remained unchanged.

In bargaining session five, it was confirmed the district had made changes in their counter proposal, one modification being the district’s offer to change the current method of Public Employee’s Retirement System (PERS) Individual Account Program (IAP) contributions. NWCSD currently pays the required 6% employee contributions by factoring the amount into their salaries. The district’s initial contract proposal offered to change the method of which the contributions were paid, proposing to pay the amount directly rather than factoring it into employee salaries. According to Bowen, the change would have given the district a cost-savings of $400,000 by lowering associated payroll costs, and would have allowed employees a higher take-home pay, as they would not have been paying payroll taxes on their PERS contributions.

Union representatives said that, by reducing that 6% PERS contribution out of their salaries, district employees would ultimately see lower retirement benefits and less social security.

“That cut would last their entire retirement … it would also reduce our social security,” Ketchum told Columbia Gorge News. “We fear we would never get that back, because historically, once something is reversed, they [the district] are typically unwilling to give it back. A permanent 6% cut in our pensions is just unacceptable. Especially as a reaction to a short-term budget problem caused by mismanagement of the budget by the senior district leadership.”

Valarie Rector, D21 EA vice president, said the district agreed as of bargaining session five to leave the current method of PERS contribution payments unchanged.

“That was a huge sticking point,” Rector said. “They did come back with an agreement not to change PERS, which is a huge impact to about 80% of our members.”

According to Rector, bargaining session five ultimately ended in a “tentative agreement.”

“We want to make it clear that we are trying to make the best of a bad situation,” Bowen said when asked about the district’s intent going forward in the bargaining process. “We know that our students and our staff need support. Nobody wants to be in this position and this is not a situation that we take lightly … Non-represented employees such as confidential and administrators receive the same proposed reductions and/or raises to pay as negotiated by our unions; this includes the superintendent.”

This is an ongoing story. Check in with columbiagorgenews.com for further updates and details on contract negotiations and ongoing bargaining as this story progresses.